Thank you to L.E. Harper for the thoughtful and kind foreword.

I only read chapter 1 but I can tell this book will be extremely niche and will likely not appeal to a broad audience. We will not be purchasing for our libraries. However, the people who love this? I can see this book gaining a cult following.

5 stars - self publishing is hard.

Thank you to NetGalley and Shivnath Productions for the ARC.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this! It just wasn’t for me. I struggled to connect with the characters, although the plot was an interesting premise!! I really like when books cover mental health but something about this did not hit with me

"Kill Your Darlings" by L.E. Harper takes readers on a captivating journey into the intertwined worlds of reality and fantasy. As someone who battles with depression myself, I found Kyla's struggles to be deeply relatable. Harper's portrayal of mental illness is both honest and empathetic, making Kyla a compelling protagonist from the start.

The concept of being transported into one's own fictional world is intriguing, and Harper executes it masterfully. The realm of Solera comes alive with vivid descriptions and rich world-building, drawing readers into its magical depths alongside Kyla. I felt like I was right there with her, experiencing the wonder and danger of this fantastical land.

One of the most compelling aspects of the story is Kyla's internal conflict. As she grapples with her depression and doubts her ability to change the course of her story, readers are taken on an emotional rollercoaster. Harper's exploration of self-doubt and the power of resilience resonates deeply, reminding us that even in our darkest moments, there is hope.

The supporting characters in "Kill Your Darlings" are equally well-developed, each with their own distinct personalities and motivations. From the fearless heroes to the cunning villains, every character feels three-dimensional and adds depth to the story. I particularly enjoyed the dynamic between Kyla and Prince Charming, whose relationship unfolds in a refreshingly authentic way.

Ultimately, "Kill Your Darlings" is a poignant exploration of the power of hope, resilience, and the human spirit. It's a reminder that even in our darkest moments, we have the strength to rewrite our own stories and find our own happy endings. L.E. Harper has crafted a truly unforgettable tale that will linger in readers' minds long after the final page.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of "Kill Your Darlings".
* This review is
voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
Content Warnings: Depictions of mental illness including depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and self-harm. The suicide scene is pretty graphic;

Was very hard to get into the story due to writing that felt clunky and lack of character progression or development - the characters felt bland and while an interesting idea, I feel like it was missing good and realistic execution, and would've preferred seeing the world through the character than the author - I feel like the writing style didn't work with being from the author

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

The premise of this was great but ultimately fell flat for me. Between the writing and the characters I just couldn't connect with this one, unfortunately. However, the rep in this book was done well and nice to see.
All together, I think this one just was quite it not for me.

This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it! I am giving this book three stars, as I don't want to give it a good or bad rating, since I did not get to it and we have to leave a star rating.

What a wonderful, immersive story. I love stories within stories and this book had it all! I think it’s one of the most unique books I have ever read and the fact the author drew on her own personal experiences for this plot must have taken so much strength which I applaud.

Kyla was a great protagonist that was very relatable for me, I really connected with her throughout the entire novel. Her struggles were raw and real, but dealt with such care. It’s an emotional journey and do urge everyone who reads it to take notice to the trigger warnings.

Overall, I really enjoyed it, as I said in places it was a bit too dark and relatable to me and had to personally take a breather (I think this just shows how well written this story really is) - however the mix of mental health issues in a fantasy world was what really resonated with me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing my with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At first I was not sure if I’d like the whole concept, but I really did for the most part. „Kill Your Darlings“ is a deeply moving story about mental illness, being loved and surviving. It felt very raw to me and a a lot of the struggles the protagonist goes through really resonated with me. Definitely mind the content warnings in the beginning though.

Really lovely and thought-provoking book ... definitely a book created with a heartfelt love and respect for both authors and readers. Harper handles the meta aspects of the story deftly and cleverly. The question of whether an author spins a world into being or is recording a world that truly exists somewhere else is such an intriguing one, and I also appreciated the frankness of the focus on mental health.

This story follows Kyla, an author of a fantasy series who wakes up in the fictional world she created in the body of one of her characters. Kyla must use her knowledge of the world to find a way to save it, but her dream turns nightmare as she works through her quest.
I really liked the character development of Kyla throughout the story and how she overcomes the darkness inside her.

Netgalley arc. This was a solid 3.75 rounded up (i don't like rounding up but this was too enjoyable not to)
So like? This book has dragons! Also realistic mental health struggles! And a final battle scene of sorts! All positives! Was a bit slow in the beginning but the pace picked up. One thing that put a bit of a damper on my enjoyment of this book was how the author did not really show but narrated and i guess it makes sense because author obviously but i would've loved to have felt as if it right infront of me I guess.

okay it took me so long to review this but i really enjoyed it! the mental health rep was so nice to see as well as the lgbt rep! it was a bit slow at the start and the writing wasn’t the best element in the book but i still had fun reading it!

An interesting story - unfortunately not my cup of tea. But that is on me and I'm sure that there will be readers who enjoy this one much than I did.

I DNF’d this at 16%.

I loved the premise of this book. There are so many different ways you can take the story of waking up inside of a novel.

But I just could not connect with this book and couldn’t get excited about finishing it. The characters felt flat and needlessly hostile in the bit of the book that I did read. The dialog was stiff and felt really forced.

The story was so unique and the characters were all well fleshed out and relatable. It did deal with some heavy topics at points and I think they were handled respectfully. Pacing wise, I thought it was really good balancing keeping the story going and also giving enough time to really immerse yourself in the world created, which is not an easy thing to do. Would highly recommend this to fantasy lovers of all kinds.

The blurb intrigued me, the cover is beautiful. I thought that this book would be an easy and fun read. I turned out it was not because I really struggled to finish it.

Kill Your Darlings is about an author suffering from depression and who finds herself in the book she wrote, in the body of the main character, Kyla but without her powers.
I liked how the depression was portrayed but the rest felt flat. I didn’t connect with the story.
The idea of an author being in the book they wrote is nice, but it’s better if the book is actually good and not a basic fantasy story.

Time and again, I keep saying it: give me the stories about stories, the metafiction, all of it. Kill Your Darlings by L.E. Harper is another spin on this idea. Along with a heavy (in many senses of the word) focus on mental health, this is a story about figuring out who you want to be when everyone is telling you who they think you are. This is a debut novel, and the rough edges that often come with that show. Aside from that, I enjoyed the story and the attempts that Harper makes to go deep on sensitive issues. I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for my review.

An author living in New York City wakes up to find herself inhabiting the body of Kyla Starblade, the protagonist of her fantasy series set in another world. “Kyla” quickly explains to the other characters in this book what’s up, but it’s immaterial—the Shadow War that they have been fighting for the past four books will stop for no one, and it’s up to her to vanquish the dark lord and save the day. There’s just one problem: in the original ending to this story, as written by this author, all of these principal characters die. Can she change what she has written, and in so doing, find her way back home?

An author finding themselves transported into their world isn’t the most original premise, but it has been a while since I’ve seen precisely this sort of twist on it. Additionally, Harper leaves the nature of this transposition ultimately unresolved: it could be a “quantum magical” entanglement, or it could be the narrator simply hallucinating everything. Did she create this world, or did she merely perceive its events from Earth, an interdimensional clairvoyant? The ultimate answer is irrelevant because it’s the journey that is important.

This is a story that is clearly, unapologetically about mental health and in particular about depression and suicide ideation—there are trigger warnings up front, and I have to say, they are justified. The book contains graphic descriptions of a mechanism of suicide, so practise self-care when deciding whether to read this book.

This layer to the story is both thematically and narratively important. The narrator is unreliable—there are a few twists near the end that, when revealed, subtly shift the reader’s interpretation of the situation. She lies to us but also to herself. Indeed, in her role as the hero of this world, the narrator feels the pressure to win against the dark lord, who is constantly telling her that she isn’t good enough. This is all too similar to what the narrator’s own brain has told her repeatedly over the years, resulting in her withdrawing from community with the people who care about her.

We don’t get to know the narrator’s world nearly as well as we do the fantasy one. There are a few stolen glimpses, but beyond that it is entirely what the narrator divulges through exposition—mainly how some of her book’s characters are modelled after her close friends, people she has since pushed away or ignored. At first, when the book opened with the narrator already in Kyla’s body in her fantasy world, I wished that we had flashbacks to the narrator’s life in NYC. Then again, I think I understand what Harper was going for here: depression is of the mind. Although circumstances can exacerbate it, the narrator isn’t depressed because of what she has experienced in her life—she’s depressed because her brain chemistry is out of whack. So it does make sense, thematically, for Kill Your Darlings to take place entirely in the narrator’s head (whether or not it is also taking place in another reality), separate from her own external world. There’s an appealing subjectivity to this storytelling.

Similarly, I appreciate that Harper doesn’t spend chapters upon chapters of the narrator trying to dupe everyone into thinking she is Kyla. She basically comes right out and says it right away, and the book’s pacing is much better for it. As it is, I think there were moments of uneven pacing—in particular, the middle was a bit of a slog. The story is very much about the narrator overcoming her self-doubt and other inner demons. As a result, the cornucopia of external threats often took a back seat in terms of the actual threat they seemed to pose to the characters. This is the trouble when you posit that a group of people might or might not be “real” in fiction—you have to be really careful to somehow maintain the stakes and our desire to sympathize with those characters. Do I care about the Kyla as much as the narrator? Is Kyla’s survival as important as the narrator’s here? These kinds of metaphysical considerations are fun but can also distract a reader from the mental-health themes at the core of the book.

Finally, I of course have to comment positively on the portrayal of a queernorm world (which is pretty subtle) and the narrator as an asexual character. The latter part is important given that Kyla is not asexual—Kyla has a very lusty love interest indeed, and some of the conflict comes from the narrator feeling romantically drawn to this character despite feeling no sexual attraction. I really liked how Harper is careful to establish that the narrator’s asexuality is not part of her being “broken,” despite what her brain might tell her. Her asexuality is wrapped up in her loneliness and isolation, which I think is an appropriate commentary on how the discrimination and erasure that ace people face in our society can converge with mental illness. This is just one more way, in other words, that the narrator feels isolated, even though her asexuality is in and of itself a valid experience.

All in all, Kill Your Darlings has its engrossing and interesting moments. Harper definitely made me want to keep reading and find out what happens next, both to the narrator and this fantasy world that she has created. I also like its very overt commentary on mental illness. While the writing itself—particularly the pacing and the challenges of pathos given the story—could be improved, it’s still a thoughtful and worthy story.

This is an emotional story of finding yourself when you’ve lost yourself to the darkness. What does that mean? I’m guessing for everyone it’s different, but for me that darkness was anxiety and depression.

I had a feeling this story was going in the direction it did because the thoughts of the main character mirrored my own in a scary way for awhile. The main character, Kyla, wakes up in a world of her own creation, or so she thinks. She’s an author who has been asked to rewrite a large chunk of her book by publishers and she is resistant to doing that. She planned to Kill her Darlings and that’s what she’s going to do. The publisher disagrees that most of the main characters need to die at the end. She uses a lucid dream to join the world of Solera and then discovers she can’t wake up - but why?

There are some pretty severe triggers in this book and the biggest one is attempted suicide. I do not at all recommend this if that’s a trigger for you since it’s in here with enough detail to allow us to know exactly what happened. However, if you do your due diligence and find that the triggers in this book won’t bother you, I definitely recommend it. It’s a glimpse into the mind of someone with depression and it’s really good.

I know my story is powerful, because it already saved one life. How many more lives might I save if I shed my fears, walk in the light, and own my scars?"

I confess that this paragraph of Kill Your Darlings made me feel something, and I don't care at this point about the story of the book or the writing or the characters. Kill Your Darlings is extremely heavy with the triggers, and I would say that please be cautious in reading this book. Heed the triggers mentioned at the beginning of the book.

Having said that, as a trauma survivor myself with a history of depression and a reader, many times in my life, I have immersed myself into the fantasy worlds of the characters I read. I connected with the author in so many aspects. There are dragons, shapeshifters, and so many other mystical characters in this book. Is it perfect, no. But is it relatable, absolutely yes. It's an autobiographical take of the author's life and the courage it takes to write a book like this is commendable.